Black bear walks into a Colorado bar

UPI News Service, 07/26/2013

A black bear wandered into a Colorado bar recently, sniffed around and left without the human patrons even noticing, video shows.

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The bruin, estimated at about 350 pounds and about 6 feet tall when standing on its hind legs, entered a back door of Lonigans Saloon Nightclub and Grill about 9:15 p.m. July 18 and nosed around for a time before exiting the way he came in, the Estes Park Trail-Gazette reported earlier this week.

The bear's visit would have gone unreported if not for a man walking by outside who saw it and security camera footage that captured it for posterity.

Passerby Daniel Lyell said he spotted the bear going from garbage bin to garbage bin in the parking lot.

"I wanted a photo, and before I knew it, he was headed into Lonigans," Lyell said. "I went in after him and tried to alert the patrons by yelling 'bear' but no one noticed. I called for the bear when he was just about to enter the middle bar area. He hesitated and then listened to me the second time. He turned around and went out the door behind me."

"Nobody even knew it was there," Lonigans owner David Callahan told the newspaper. "I just missed seeing it. I was cleaning up and had just taken out the trash."

Callahan said his bartender also just missed running into the bear after she had gone to the rear of the saloon.

The owner said it's the second time a bear has come into his establishment, the last time four or five years ago, the newspaper said.

"I almost bopped him on the nose," Callahan said in recalling the first incident, adding it is probably time to make some changes to that door.